Published 4:00 am, Thursday, June 3, 1999

1999-06-03 04:00:00 PDT PLEASANTON -- A 71-year-old Pleasanton man has been booked on felony hit-and-run and manslaughter charges after he allegedly struck and killed a teenager lying in a busy street after being injured from another accident.

Francis Dwight Shaw surrendered to the California Highway Patrol on Tuesday night and was bailed out of Santa Rita Jail yesterday morning on $15,000 bond.

Shaw's arrest came after several intense days of investigation into the bizarre sequence of events on Saturday night along westbound Stanley Avenue in Pleasanton.

The CHP has determined that shortly before 9 p.m., unlicensed 16-year-old Matthew Christian Aguirre, who was driving a Saturn sedan rented by his father, crashed the car at 80 mph into a utility pole. The impact killed his passenger, 12- year-old Brian Edmonson of Pleasanton, and threw Aguirre, who was not wearing a seat belt, onto the road.

Several other motorists stopped to help, turning on hazard lights on their cars and waving traffic around Aguirre, who lay moaning in the street.

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Shaw allegedly had left a Livermore restaurant after drinking one alcoholic beverage during dinner with his wife. He was driving his 1998 Lincoln Town Car between 50 and 55 mph when he approached the accident scene, said CHP officer Steven Creel.

"There were cars parked on the right shoulder with flashing lights and a person was diverting traffic," Creel said. "That person had to jump out of the way" to avoid being hit by Shaw.

Shaw's Lincoln struck Aguirre with such force that it "lurched" into the air, Creel said. Shaw pulled over after several hundred more feet, then drove off, according to witnesses.

During the next several days, the CHP received numerous tips and interviewed more than a dozen witnesses. On Monday morning, Shaw's attorney, Dean Shotwell, called investigators and offered to let them inspect the Lincoln.

Damage to the car's front and other physical evidence led officers to believe the Lincoln had struck Aguirre, Creel said.

When interviewed, Shaw said he did not realize he had struck a person, according to the CHP. But Shaw should have known enough to stop, Creel said.

"Do you just continue without checking?" Creel added.

Neither Shaw nor Shotwell returned calls asking for comment.

The CHP is also investigating how Aguirre got the keys to the Saturn rented by his father. Even had he been licensed, the teenager should not have been driving with anyone under the age of 20, Creel said.